Venus 668, Power Cuts Out When DVD Drive In Use

[eddieparker]

Hello:

I've got a Morex Venus 668 set up, and it's running pretty smoothly.

That said, if I end up trying to run something from the dvd drive (particularly if I run a large OS install), the power will spontaneously shut off.

To me, this means either one of two things:

1) There's not enough power being delivered, so it shuts down the board
2) Overheating and the BIOS shuts the PC down as a safety?
3) Bad memory issues?

Let me know if any of my assumptions are incorrect, and I'd appreciate if you'd let me know why too.

I imagine that my problem is actually #1, allowing it's viable. If so, are there any hard and fast rules on how to pick an appropriate PSU for a machine? I imagine I'd need to total up the draw from the components I'm using (MoBo, HDD, DVD, etc) and make sure my PSU is rated for said draw - is it just wattage I need to add up?

Also, is there a way I can find out what PSU's will work in my Morex Venus 668? I imagine there's a size requirement, yea?

I'd appreciate any help you can offer - I'm quite new to building PC's from scratch, and would appreciate the help.

-e-

 

[dndhatcher]

Looks like a proprietary size. You will have to google morex venus 668 power supply.

Power supplies age and become less efficient. Is that what has started happening or did you do something to increase the power usage?

Here is a link to a free basic power supply calculator.
http://www.antec.outervision.com/

 

[eddieparker]

Hell dndhatcher, thanks for getting back to me.

This is a new box, I just set it up in the last week. I remember the power cutting out once while I installed Gentoo on it, but I think the DVD wasn't spinning long enough the second time for it to cut out.

If I'm unable to find an appropriate size for the 668, would I have to mod the case to fit a standard sized one? Or is that out of the question?

 

[dndhatcher]

I would go back to whomever sold you this box as new. They should be responsible for giving you a system that works. It seems likely to me you have a bad power supply, bad DVD (has a short?) or there is something wired wrong inside.

Is there any indicator of the date of manufacture or way to get in touch with the manufacturer? That would be another route you could take. I didnt find enough good info on the case to tell you any more than that.

 

[eddieparker]

Hrmm. I may have shot myself in the foot then.

I bought the case off of Craigslist. The DVD itself came from another machine, and I haven't tested it in a while, so it very well could be defective, but I wouldn't've guessed that to be the case.

So was my hypothesis that the PSU is underpowered incorrect then, judging by your line of questioning? If not, is there a method to see what amount of power my PSU *should* have for the components I"ve selected?

 

[lunyone]

Here is what I found out about the PSU (if I looked it up right):

Internal Switching Power Supply:
Model No.: ENP-2222D
Dimensions: (mm) 150 (L) x 82 (w) x 65 (H)
Intput : 200-240V~ / 3A 50Hz
Output : +3.3V 17A
+5V 13A
+12V 16A
-5V 0.3A
-12V 0.3A
+5V 2A
Total : 220.00W
Link:
http://store.mp3car.com/Morex_Venus_668_Mini_ITX_Case_p/enc-016.htm

220w is okay for a basic system (no dedicated GPU or very light GPU). Not sure about the quality of the PSU, which might be the culprit (hence being sold on Craigslist too, not sure).

What are your system specs that your trying to run this system on??

Here's a comparable PSU:
FSP Group FSP270-60LE 270W Mini ITX/ Flex ATX 80 PLUS Certified Power Supply - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104073

It has comparable dimensions (150 x 82 x 41 yours is 150 x 82 x 65), but the FSP PSU has 20 A on the combined 12v rails (247w at 50c!!!).

 

[eddieparker]

Hello again luny! Thanks so much for your help on the previous forum.

I'm basically looking to install:

- this hard-drive (x3) [1]
- this motherboard [2]
- this RAM (x2) [3]
- this CPU [4]

The DVD writer/player I don't have a link to - I'll check out the model and info here in a bit.

Does this sound like I'm asking too much? How would I go about calculating how much wattage (if that's what I'm lacking) I need based on these components? Simple addition?

Cheers,

-e-

[1] http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=14120DR5337&vpn=ST31500541AS&manufacture=SEAGATE
[2] http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=12200BD4296&vpn=BOXDG45FC&manufacture=INTEL
[3] http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=1241185129G&vpn=KVR800D2N6/2G&manufacture=KINGSTON+TECHNOLOGY+-+KVR
[4] http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/216375/BX80571E6300/Intel/

 

[dndhatcher]

Use the PSU calculator I linked in the second post.

In my previous answer you said you bought the box new so I was assuming you meant that it came as one unit, not that you got the case/psu and were putting your own components in. It is quite possible you are exceeding a 220W power supply if you are putting your own build together.

 

[eddieparker]

Hey dndhatcher:

Apologies for not noticing the link - that's very informative.

I tried filling it out, but unfortunately it didn't have a section for the on board graphics card, so I left it at the default < 32 MB PCI/AGP card.

However the results come in as requiring 158 W PSU, which is much less than the 220 required.

Am I doing that properly? If so, it points to your previous assertion of either a bunk PSU, or DVD (although I guess technically anything between the two could be wrong).

Hrmm, curiouser and curiouser.

Thanks so much for the help everyone.

 

[dndhatcher]

I get 228 watts without any case fans and only 10% capacitor aging. My bet is you picked the wrong CPU. There is an old 1.8GHz e6300 and you have the Pentium E6300 2.8 GHz near the end of the list.

 

[eddieparker]

Hrmm, weird. I think i picked all the right things. Sorry to dig into this, but I'd like to knwo what I did wrong.

I've set:

System Type: Single Socket
Motherboard: Mini ITX
CPU: Intel Pentium E6300 2800MHz Wolfdale - 3M
RAM: 2 Sticks DDR 2
Hard Drives: 3 Green SATA
DVD Drive: 1 DVD-RW/DVD+RW Drive

And I've left everything else in it's default state. I hadn't checked the 10% capacitor aging, but I've done so now and it comes in at 169 W.

I'm sure I've done something wrong - if it's not too much trouble, can you steer me straight, dnd?

Cheers,

-e-

 

[dndhatcher]

You picked the wrong motherboard. "Mini itx for Atom" is not what you have. Atom is a special low power style computer used for netbooks. I put in "high end motherboard" and got 228. Standard motherboard gets 208. Given the big chipset heatsinks I see on your motherboard I bet high end is closer to its real power consumption.

I put in 3 regular sata, but its only comes up with 7 watts less for 3 green sata.

In any case you are very close to the limit of its power capacity, and since that power supply does not seem likely to be very good (no 80+ rating) it is likely to run below specs.

It is also likely to be old. That case model is so old it isnt even listed on Morex's website. It may have been stored in a box unused since 2003 or so (last reference I saw to someone buying one in the limited research I did.) Things deteriorate some even sitting around unused.

If you could borrow a working more powerful PSU from a friend, you could hook it up outside of the case and if it runs you will know its the PSU.

One thing you might try is see if a friend will loan you an old standard size PSU that you could use as a model to see if maybe you can mod the case to hold it.

 

[eddieparker]

Best answer selected by eddieparker.

 

[lunyone]

So did you fix it and what was the fix??

 

[eddieparker]

Sorry for the late reply lunyone:

I haven't fixed it properly yet, but dndhatcher's suggestion was a good one. I took a much more powerful PSU (460W) and plugged it in, and I haven't had any crashes yet.

I'm going to see if it's possible to use that 460W PSU in here for starters - but I doubt it because the dimensions are so big - and failing that I'll have to shop around for another PSU that hopefully can do the trick. :/

 

[lunyone]

You know I linked a good PSU to get??
Here's a comparable PSU:
FSP Group FSP270-60LE 270W Mini ITX/ Flex ATX 80 PLUS Certified Power Supply - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104073

 

[eddieparker]

Yes, I saw that link you sent luny - thanks for that. Now that I know it's the PSU's fault, I'll have to investigate to see if:

a) It fits the case
b) It doesn't cause massive heat buildup
c) 270W will be enough for all the draw I've got on this puppy.

Hopefully I'll be alright. I'll have to see if there's any Canadian stores that sell the equiv. PSU.

 

[lunyone]

I checked to see if the dimensions would fit, and it appears to me that the PSU will fit.

 

[eddieparker]

Unfortunately the numbers are right, but the dimensions aren't.

https://www.shopfsp.com/fsp27060le-80/p/490.html

The FSP is:

80.0mm (W) X 150.0mm (D) X 40.0mm (H)

While ths ENP-222D is:

150 (W) x 82 (D) x66.5 (H) mm



Back to the drawing board. Although if you know of an equivalent power supply with roughly the same form factor, that would be great.